Issues: The Beginning, Ch23
Title: Issues: The Beginning, Ch23
Fandom: Issues
Characters/pairings: Ensemble
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A group of college students find a way to travel to other worlds.
Warnings: Mary-Sue self insert with bad characterizations.
Notes: Old writing, from waaaaay back in the day, in it's mostly original format (very minor corrections may have been made)
o o o
It was hard being a genius, Teri mused. On one hand, she had this wondrous new way of travel, a whole new science that she alone had discovered and a great urge to learn everything she could about it. On the other hand, she had the knowledge that if she meddled for too long, or did something wrong, there was a good chance she'd end up dead, or worse, discovered by the wrong people. The last thing she wanted was Middle-Earth full of strip-mines or Konan full of shopping malls.
With a sigh, she stood up from her desk. Her job was rather nice, she was an architectural designer and decorator. Traveling through the RIFTS and seeing the styles of other worlds helped her to design some truly fantastic buildings. However, her co-workers tended to be extremely jealous of her success, especially those who had been with the firm a while. She had moved to Tennessee, because that was the nearest place to home that had a RIFT and was warm most of the year. The RIFT was in a small park near her apartment and she often traveled off somewhere for an hour or two, just to walk and think and inspire herself.
Her job was soon about to get better. She had talked to her boss, telling him that she enjoyed travel a lot and that it inspired her buildings, so they had worked out a deal where her projects would be emailed to her, and she could work on them and send them in from wherever she was at the time. Thankfully, it also got her away from jealous co-workers.
Her hand felt in her purse for her Remote before she left. She always kept the device with her no matter what. She had a second device at home, in case something happened to the first. Humming under her breath she walked into the humid Tennessee spring warmth. She walked away from the building, ignoring the parking lot. She only drove when the weather was bad, preferring to walk. As she turned a corner, her Remote began to beep. She had managed to create a program within the device that warned her when any portal within fifty miles was opening. Since there were no other portals within over two hundred miles, she ran as fast as she could to the park.
Cursing, Teri ran down a small path towards a stand of trees. Between the gaps in the trunks, she could see the blue swirl of the portal. She cursed again, damning the stupidity of whoever decided to travel here in the middle of the day, when anyone might wander past. She dodged a bench and ran into the copse of trees.
The portal was already closing. Missy and Renee stood there, looking around. "You stupid idjits!" Teri hissed. "What if someone had seen you?"
"But they didn't." Renee replied. "But we're 'cause tweedle-dee here got an idea, and told a few of the seishi before discussing it with us, so we almost have no choice but to do it."
Missy glared at Renee. "You make it sound like a bad idea." She turned to her sister with a grin. "I wanted to take a li'l vacation, but with a few 'foreign friends' along for the ride. Y'know, rent out a cabin up north and invite them to stay with us in our world for a week or so."
Teri crossed her arms. "They?" she asked. "Who is this 'they'?"
Missy shrugged. "Tasuki and Nuriko wanted to, and Chichiri and Chiriko mentioned wanting to. Trunks one and two; your elf, maybe Ace. Just a bunch of retards-"
"Getting us caught?" Teri asked. She shook her head. "This doesn't sound like too good of an idea." She said doubtfully.
"Oh come on." Missy said. "Lets do it. It'll be fun, I promise. Please? Pretty please?"
"Missy, this is NOT smart."
"Pleeeeaaaaase?"
"Missy-"
"Pretty please with a doujin on top?"
"Missy, this-...which doujin?"
Missy grinned and reached into her purse, pulling out a small paperback book. The cover pictured a strange-looking man with black hair, a red coat and metal struts for legs. "The newest K. Haruka." Missy said, waving the book in front of her sister. "Death Gigas is yours, if you go along with the idea." She held the book under her nose and inhaled. "Mmmm, fresh off the presses."
"You should have seen Keeren try to get it from her." Renee added.
Teri bit her lip, debating. On one hand, she got fresh, new, free Japanese comics but risked getting caught; on the other, they didn't run the risk, but she'd have to order the book herself.
Missy frowned and pulled out another book. "This one's Kiryu." She said simply.
Teri stared at her. "You planned this, didn't you?" She asked.
"Yup." Missy replied, grinning.
Teri snatched the two books from her sister's hand and stomped off, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Dunno why I'm doing this.' Renee looked up at Missy. "Not gonna tell her those were her birthday presents, and that she'd get them anyway, are you?"
"You think I want to die?"
o o o
Teri sighed, wondering how she had gotten talked into this and how they had managed to get her truck in the stand of trees and through the portal without killing anyone. Of course she hadn't sent it to the portal in the dorm room, but she had cut her journey in half by sending it to an abandoned field in Ohio. A stop by the dorm room (which was currently occupied by only Renee, as Missy and Keeren had moved out when they graduated that spring) to pick up a few passengers and now she was following the van Missy was driving, a snoring Ace beside her and a wide-eyed Legolas sitting beside Mirai no Trunks in the back seat. Missy had Renee, Keeren, Gt Trunks, and four of Suzaku's seishi in the van, along with three coolers of food. Teri carried a large assortment of blankets, pillows, bag of clothes and random odds and ends in the back of her truck. Keeren had taken care of the arrangements for the cabin, which was supposedly a large, rather good quality cabin near a lake and rather isolated from other people.
Teri sped up to pass a semi and grinned as she heard Legolas exclaim softly in Elvish. The Elf had spent the entire trip glued to the windows, staring at passing vehicles and buildings in amazement. Teri wondered idly if the culture gap would stun him and decided it wouldn't. He was over a millennia in age, so he should be able to adjust. Trunks kept giving the Elf odd looks.
They were almost four hours into the trip when Missy finally left the highway, directed by Keeren and Renee, who kept stealing the map from each other. The two vehicles traveled a road that twisted through a wooded area for nearly another hour before they were stopped at a guardhouse.
"Permit?" The guard asked, leaning out his window.
Keeren leaned out and handed the man a couple papers. "Twelve under Kerstin Morris. Cabin on the other side of the lake?"
The guard looked at the papers. "Alright, this all seems to be in order here. Follow this road all the way to the end and turn left. Can't miss it."
"Thanks!" Missy called over Keeren's head. The guard waved and the continued on. They passed several cabins as they went, rounded a curve and found themselves on a road along the lake bed, opposite the majority of the cabins in the camp. They traveled the road as far as it went, and came to a lonely-looking cabin.
"Is this where we'll be staying, na no da?" Asked Chichiri from the back.
"Yep!" Keeren said. "There's three rooms, and a privy out back. We'll be here a week."
"Lovely" Renee said dryly.
"Don't look like anything special." Tasuki said with a snort. "We could stay in a place like that in Konan."
Keeren grinned back over her shoulder as Missy parked the van beside a stump and Teri pulled up beside them. "But in Konan," she said, "You can't take a short trip to a water park, or a movie, or an ice-cream stand, now can you?" Her grin widened at the confused look on Tasuki's face.
"You guys getting out of there?" Teri asked, standing at Keeren's window with an arm full of blankets. Behind her, Legolas stood with a bag under each arm, Ace with another load of blankets and Mirai Trunks with a large bulk of whatever was left in the truck. Not waiting for Keeren to answer, Teri turned and stalked into the house, calling out directions in English about what went where. Trunks, Ace and Legolas followed.
Keeren looked at Missy. "Now, why did we insist she come?" She asked.
"Because Teri can," Renee said. "A, organize everyone better than Missy can, and B, she'd kill us if we did this without telling her."
"Whatever." Missy said. "C'mon, lets unload."
Twenty minutes later, the varied group was out of the vehicles, along with a majority of the supplies for the week. Blankets were spread in two of the rooms, the smallest for the females, the largest for the males, and all of them were sitting around in the third room. "Well," Keeren said. "It's only two in the afternoon, what can we do for the day?"
Teri had her nose buried in a newspaper. "Well," She said. "We can always welcome to America the greatest way by taking them to see a good ol' fashioned movie."
"Uh, what movie?" Missy asked
"The Wizard of Oz is showing at the theater in the next town." Teri replied, balling up the paper and throwing it at Ace.
"Problem." Missy said. "Two thirds of the people here don't speak English well and-or at all." She was right. They were having their discussion in Japanese, with Keeren translating for the benefit of Renee, who didn't speak it too well, and Legolas who couldn't speak it at all.
"We've thought of that." Teri replied. "Chichiri has a spell that can change what you hear into your own language, unless you are specifically trying to learn the new language. Legolas and Renee can get it for Japanese, and the rest of you baka's can get it for English. How's that sound?"
"Complicated." Keeren replied.
"And?"
"Sounds good to me." Ace said. "We get little chips imbedded in the brain, but I suppose we don't have those in this world, huh?"
Missy looked at the monk. "You can really do that?" she asked.
Chichiri nodded, his bangs bobbing. "Hai, no da." he said "But I'll need you guys to speak in the 'Eenglish' while I cast it, so I know what I need to cast the spell for. But it won't help us to learn eengrish, because it just changes what we hear into our language."
Renee shrugged. "Sounds good, if you're up to it." she said.
Chichiri nodded. "Renee-chan and Legolas san," He said, standing, his Shajuko jangling in his hand, "If you could step up here, please, na no da?" Legolas and Renee looked at Keeren, who nodded, and both stood. "Tell me when things make sense, na no da. Tasuki-kun, Nuriko-kun, Chiriko-kun, start talking." Keeren translated his instructions to the Elf and woman as Tasuki, Chiriko and Nuriko struck up a random conversation about the recent Star Festival in Konan.
Chichiri closed his eyes, his Shajuko held vertically before him in one hand, his other hand holding the beads around his neck. Everything was silent for a moment, except for Nuriko, Chiriko, and Tasuki's conversation, when thin streams of red started flowing from the mouths of the three talkers. Apparently they had been warned of this and continued talking. the streams flowed, following the rhythm and cadence of their speech patterns. The streams met in the center of the triangle the three seishi made, then traveled as one to where Renee and Legolas stood. The stream split into two, one for each of them, and seemed to search along their bodies, sending out and retreating gentle tendrils that curled around their arms and torso's, before reaching their heads. The twin streams climbed their necks and when they found their ears they slipped inside.
Renee bit her lip, and a brief frown crossed the Elf's face, each appearing to be listening intently to what they were hearing. Chichiri began to slowly rotate the Shajuko in the air to the left. When it was at a thirty degree angle to the floor, Legolas gasped and Renee's eyes widened. "We can understand now, Chichiri!" Renee said, a grin crossing her face. "We know what they're saying, right Legolas?"
Legolas nodded. "They are speaking of a festival, and of the food there."
Chichiri dropped the spell at their outburst, even though he didn't know what they were saying he figured it had worked by their expressions. "So you know what I'm saying now, na no da?" Both nodded. "Okay, now I have to get us to know what you are saying, no da."
"That wasn't too hard, was it Chichiri?" Teri asked.
"Nah, no problem, no da."
"I am only missing one thing." Legolas said, "What ever Chichiri says at the end of his sentences, I do not understand. What is 'no da'?"
Chichiri looked quizzically at Legolas, but Teri, Missy and Keeren burst into laughter. "Don't worry, Legolas." Keeren said. "No da is just Chichiri's own little speech quirk. It really has no translation." Legolas nodded slowly.
Chichiri shook his head. "I'm not asking, no da." He said. "Alright, I need the others to come up here. Could you five talk for me, please?" The other three seishi and the two Trunks' gathered around the monk as Teri, Missy, Renee, Keeren and Ace all started their own random conversation about the Wizard of Oz. The same thing happened as before. The words from the five speakers mouths appeared as streams of red light, each waving to the particular rhythm of the speaker’s voice. The streams condensed, traveled, and split into six sections, each for one of the Seishi or one of the Sayia-jin. As before, once each stream had entered the ears of one of them, Chichiri began to rotate his Shajuko, this time to his right. He had to go further this time, before everyone's eyes lit up in understanding. Chichiri dropped the spell with a grin.
"Go Chichiri!" Renee shouted. "Now we don't need any translators! Sorry, Keeren, you're fired."
"Who's up for a movie?" Teri asked.
"What's a 'movie'?"
o o o
The little boy stared up in shock. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. "Momma." He whispered, tugging on his mothers' hand. "Momma, it's Trunks."
"Yes, dear, now come along, it's time to go home." The mother replied.
"But momma..."
Gt Trunks had overheard this conversation and looked back over his shoulder at the child behind him. He smiled and winked, laying one finger over his lips in the universal 'hush' gesture. The boy gaped, then grinned and nodded. Trunks returned the grin and looked ahead again.
"What are you so happy about?" Missy asked him. The movie was over, and they were all attempting to get out of the theater. Trunks just shook his head. Missy shrugged. The movie excursion had been a complete success, once Keeren and Teri had managed to explain the concept of a moving picture to the seishi and Elf. The movie itself had captured all of their attention for the past two and a half hours, and now they were all hungry. Teri had flat-out refused to let any of the seishi or the elf get a popcorn larger than a medium, claiming that they were not used to the preservatives and artificial junk and might get sick. Again, Keeren questioned why they had insisted the bossy older woman come along, and this time Missy just shrugged.
"Who wants barbeque?" Ace asked as they made their way into the parking lot. Chiriko was walking ahead of him, humming 'If I only had a Brain'. "I can cook a mean steak."
"If you want to cook, have fun." Keeren replied. "But first we have to get back to the campsite."
"Really?" Missy asked. "I thought we'd bust out the grill and cook it here in the parking lot."
Midnight found Renee sitting on the beach, watching the reflections of the stars on the lake. Down the beach some distance, Teri was showing Legolas the constelations of Terra. Behind renee, in the cabin, Keeren, Ace and Missy were teaching the others the words to several of the Wizard of Oz songs, and the cabin was awash with music and the light from the fireplace.
Renee sighed contentedly. After the initial awkwardness they all had, everyone had gotten along wonderfully, except the two Trunks', who were uncomfortable to the point of being competitive with each other. Each seemed to be trying to prove himself 'the best Trunks'. Renee sighed. A fight between the two of them would probably be one hell of a battle. She really hoped that it didn't happen while they were here.
"Are you okay, Renee-chan?" Renee looked up. Nuriko stood behind her, his braid casually draped over his shoulder. It wasn't as long as Renee remembered from the show, then she remembered that he had cut it at one point.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Renee replied. "I just came out for some fresh air."
Nuriko wrinkled his nose as he sat beside her. "I don't know how you can call this fresh." He said.
Renee laughed. "For this world, this is pure and clean. Wait until you're in a real city. You'll wonder how in the hell we manage to live with the smell." She shrugged. "It's kinda weird to go to your world, because there we never smell exhaust and stuff."
"You're whole world smells like metal and smoke." Nuriko said, gazing out over the lake. "But you know what? I think, with all the wondrous things I've seen so far, I could live here."
"I understand what you mean, Master Nuriko." They looked up to see Legolas and Teri standing beside them. "This world has a scent that reminds me of Moria, of all places, but with what I have seen, and what I have learned from the short amount of time I have been here, I am eager to learn more. I would not mind staying an extended time."
"Renee, we've corrupted them." Teri said. "Next thing you know, they'll be listening to Britney Spears and Metallica, and watching the Simpson’s." Renee laughed. "But," Teri continued "Perhaps we can arrange for you to stay here for a time. We'd have to find a place to stay that's near a portal, so we could travel whenever necessary."
"I know Tasuki-kun, Chiriko-kun and Chichiri-san feel the same." Nuriko said. "Being an advisor in the palace is nice, but it get's boring when we can never do things for ourselves. Tasuki-kun's been threatening to go back and be a bandit again, and that he'd take the entire guard back with him if necessary. Hotohori-sama threatened to throw him in the dungeon and Tasuki-kun reminded him that he was the head of the guard and that the guards were all former members of his band, so none of them would try and catch him. After that it just became a big name-calling contest, but I know how Tasuki felt."
"He was calling the Emperor of your world names?" Legolas asked.
"Hotohori-sama is a seishi as well." Nuriko said. "We treat him as a brother, like the rest of us, only as a brother with a lot of power at his disposal. But he asks us to remember that he is human, and a seishi like the rest of us."
"Aragorn is much the same." Legolas said. "He is the true King of Gondor, but when the remnants of the Fellowship are together, he is Strider again. I think part of it is that I still remember him as a child in Rivendell, and he knows that."
Renee laughed again. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but it's well after midnight, so I'm going to bed."
"Good night, Lady Renee, Master Nuriko." Legolas said.
"Night, you guys." Teri added, and the two headed towards the house.
Nuriko looked at Renee. "As far as i know," he said. "No one told him I was male."
Renee shrugged. "Who knows. He's an elf. Come on, let's get some rest."
Fandom: Issues
Characters/pairings: Ensemble
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A group of college students find a way to travel to other worlds.
Warnings: Mary-Sue self insert with bad characterizations.
Notes: Old writing, from waaaaay back in the day, in it's mostly original format (very minor corrections may have been made)
o o o
It was hard being a genius, Teri mused. On one hand, she had this wondrous new way of travel, a whole new science that she alone had discovered and a great urge to learn everything she could about it. On the other hand, she had the knowledge that if she meddled for too long, or did something wrong, there was a good chance she'd end up dead, or worse, discovered by the wrong people. The last thing she wanted was Middle-Earth full of strip-mines or Konan full of shopping malls.
With a sigh, she stood up from her desk. Her job was rather nice, she was an architectural designer and decorator. Traveling through the RIFTS and seeing the styles of other worlds helped her to design some truly fantastic buildings. However, her co-workers tended to be extremely jealous of her success, especially those who had been with the firm a while. She had moved to Tennessee, because that was the nearest place to home that had a RIFT and was warm most of the year. The RIFT was in a small park near her apartment and she often traveled off somewhere for an hour or two, just to walk and think and inspire herself.
Her job was soon about to get better. She had talked to her boss, telling him that she enjoyed travel a lot and that it inspired her buildings, so they had worked out a deal where her projects would be emailed to her, and she could work on them and send them in from wherever she was at the time. Thankfully, it also got her away from jealous co-workers.
Her hand felt in her purse for her Remote before she left. She always kept the device with her no matter what. She had a second device at home, in case something happened to the first. Humming under her breath she walked into the humid Tennessee spring warmth. She walked away from the building, ignoring the parking lot. She only drove when the weather was bad, preferring to walk. As she turned a corner, her Remote began to beep. She had managed to create a program within the device that warned her when any portal within fifty miles was opening. Since there were no other portals within over two hundred miles, she ran as fast as she could to the park.
Cursing, Teri ran down a small path towards a stand of trees. Between the gaps in the trunks, she could see the blue swirl of the portal. She cursed again, damning the stupidity of whoever decided to travel here in the middle of the day, when anyone might wander past. She dodged a bench and ran into the copse of trees.
The portal was already closing. Missy and Renee stood there, looking around. "You stupid idjits!" Teri hissed. "What if someone had seen you?"
"But they didn't." Renee replied. "But we're 'cause tweedle-dee here got an idea, and told a few of the seishi before discussing it with us, so we almost have no choice but to do it."
Missy glared at Renee. "You make it sound like a bad idea." She turned to her sister with a grin. "I wanted to take a li'l vacation, but with a few 'foreign friends' along for the ride. Y'know, rent out a cabin up north and invite them to stay with us in our world for a week or so."
Teri crossed her arms. "They?" she asked. "Who is this 'they'?"
Missy shrugged. "Tasuki and Nuriko wanted to, and Chichiri and Chiriko mentioned wanting to. Trunks one and two; your elf, maybe Ace. Just a bunch of retards-"
"Getting us caught?" Teri asked. She shook her head. "This doesn't sound like too good of an idea." She said doubtfully.
"Oh come on." Missy said. "Lets do it. It'll be fun, I promise. Please? Pretty please?"
"Missy, this is NOT smart."
"Pleeeeaaaaase?"
"Missy-"
"Pretty please with a doujin on top?"
"Missy, this-...which doujin?"
Missy grinned and reached into her purse, pulling out a small paperback book. The cover pictured a strange-looking man with black hair, a red coat and metal struts for legs. "The newest K. Haruka." Missy said, waving the book in front of her sister. "Death Gigas is yours, if you go along with the idea." She held the book under her nose and inhaled. "Mmmm, fresh off the presses."
"You should have seen Keeren try to get it from her." Renee added.
Teri bit her lip, debating. On one hand, she got fresh, new, free Japanese comics but risked getting caught; on the other, they didn't run the risk, but she'd have to order the book herself.
Missy frowned and pulled out another book. "This one's Kiryu." She said simply.
Teri stared at her. "You planned this, didn't you?" She asked.
"Yup." Missy replied, grinning.
Teri snatched the two books from her sister's hand and stomped off, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Dunno why I'm doing this.' Renee looked up at Missy. "Not gonna tell her those were her birthday presents, and that she'd get them anyway, are you?"
"You think I want to die?"
o o o
Teri sighed, wondering how she had gotten talked into this and how they had managed to get her truck in the stand of trees and through the portal without killing anyone. Of course she hadn't sent it to the portal in the dorm room, but she had cut her journey in half by sending it to an abandoned field in Ohio. A stop by the dorm room (which was currently occupied by only Renee, as Missy and Keeren had moved out when they graduated that spring) to pick up a few passengers and now she was following the van Missy was driving, a snoring Ace beside her and a wide-eyed Legolas sitting beside Mirai no Trunks in the back seat. Missy had Renee, Keeren, Gt Trunks, and four of Suzaku's seishi in the van, along with three coolers of food. Teri carried a large assortment of blankets, pillows, bag of clothes and random odds and ends in the back of her truck. Keeren had taken care of the arrangements for the cabin, which was supposedly a large, rather good quality cabin near a lake and rather isolated from other people.
Teri sped up to pass a semi and grinned as she heard Legolas exclaim softly in Elvish. The Elf had spent the entire trip glued to the windows, staring at passing vehicles and buildings in amazement. Teri wondered idly if the culture gap would stun him and decided it wouldn't. He was over a millennia in age, so he should be able to adjust. Trunks kept giving the Elf odd looks.
They were almost four hours into the trip when Missy finally left the highway, directed by Keeren and Renee, who kept stealing the map from each other. The two vehicles traveled a road that twisted through a wooded area for nearly another hour before they were stopped at a guardhouse.
"Permit?" The guard asked, leaning out his window.
Keeren leaned out and handed the man a couple papers. "Twelve under Kerstin Morris. Cabin on the other side of the lake?"
The guard looked at the papers. "Alright, this all seems to be in order here. Follow this road all the way to the end and turn left. Can't miss it."
"Thanks!" Missy called over Keeren's head. The guard waved and the continued on. They passed several cabins as they went, rounded a curve and found themselves on a road along the lake bed, opposite the majority of the cabins in the camp. They traveled the road as far as it went, and came to a lonely-looking cabin.
"Is this where we'll be staying, na no da?" Asked Chichiri from the back.
"Yep!" Keeren said. "There's three rooms, and a privy out back. We'll be here a week."
"Lovely" Renee said dryly.
"Don't look like anything special." Tasuki said with a snort. "We could stay in a place like that in Konan."
Keeren grinned back over her shoulder as Missy parked the van beside a stump and Teri pulled up beside them. "But in Konan," she said, "You can't take a short trip to a water park, or a movie, or an ice-cream stand, now can you?" Her grin widened at the confused look on Tasuki's face.
"You guys getting out of there?" Teri asked, standing at Keeren's window with an arm full of blankets. Behind her, Legolas stood with a bag under each arm, Ace with another load of blankets and Mirai Trunks with a large bulk of whatever was left in the truck. Not waiting for Keeren to answer, Teri turned and stalked into the house, calling out directions in English about what went where. Trunks, Ace and Legolas followed.
Keeren looked at Missy. "Now, why did we insist she come?" She asked.
"Because Teri can," Renee said. "A, organize everyone better than Missy can, and B, she'd kill us if we did this without telling her."
"Whatever." Missy said. "C'mon, lets unload."
Twenty minutes later, the varied group was out of the vehicles, along with a majority of the supplies for the week. Blankets were spread in two of the rooms, the smallest for the females, the largest for the males, and all of them were sitting around in the third room. "Well," Keeren said. "It's only two in the afternoon, what can we do for the day?"
Teri had her nose buried in a newspaper. "Well," She said. "We can always welcome to America the greatest way by taking them to see a good ol' fashioned movie."
"Uh, what movie?" Missy asked
"The Wizard of Oz is showing at the theater in the next town." Teri replied, balling up the paper and throwing it at Ace.
"Problem." Missy said. "Two thirds of the people here don't speak English well and-or at all." She was right. They were having their discussion in Japanese, with Keeren translating for the benefit of Renee, who didn't speak it too well, and Legolas who couldn't speak it at all.
"We've thought of that." Teri replied. "Chichiri has a spell that can change what you hear into your own language, unless you are specifically trying to learn the new language. Legolas and Renee can get it for Japanese, and the rest of you baka's can get it for English. How's that sound?"
"Complicated." Keeren replied.
"And?"
"Sounds good to me." Ace said. "We get little chips imbedded in the brain, but I suppose we don't have those in this world, huh?"
Missy looked at the monk. "You can really do that?" she asked.
Chichiri nodded, his bangs bobbing. "Hai, no da." he said "But I'll need you guys to speak in the 'Eenglish' while I cast it, so I know what I need to cast the spell for. But it won't help us to learn eengrish, because it just changes what we hear into our language."
Renee shrugged. "Sounds good, if you're up to it." she said.
Chichiri nodded. "Renee-chan and Legolas san," He said, standing, his Shajuko jangling in his hand, "If you could step up here, please, na no da?" Legolas and Renee looked at Keeren, who nodded, and both stood. "Tell me when things make sense, na no da. Tasuki-kun, Nuriko-kun, Chiriko-kun, start talking." Keeren translated his instructions to the Elf and woman as Tasuki, Chiriko and Nuriko struck up a random conversation about the recent Star Festival in Konan.
Chichiri closed his eyes, his Shajuko held vertically before him in one hand, his other hand holding the beads around his neck. Everything was silent for a moment, except for Nuriko, Chiriko, and Tasuki's conversation, when thin streams of red started flowing from the mouths of the three talkers. Apparently they had been warned of this and continued talking. the streams flowed, following the rhythm and cadence of their speech patterns. The streams met in the center of the triangle the three seishi made, then traveled as one to where Renee and Legolas stood. The stream split into two, one for each of them, and seemed to search along their bodies, sending out and retreating gentle tendrils that curled around their arms and torso's, before reaching their heads. The twin streams climbed their necks and when they found their ears they slipped inside.
Renee bit her lip, and a brief frown crossed the Elf's face, each appearing to be listening intently to what they were hearing. Chichiri began to slowly rotate the Shajuko in the air to the left. When it was at a thirty degree angle to the floor, Legolas gasped and Renee's eyes widened. "We can understand now, Chichiri!" Renee said, a grin crossing her face. "We know what they're saying, right Legolas?"
Legolas nodded. "They are speaking of a festival, and of the food there."
Chichiri dropped the spell at their outburst, even though he didn't know what they were saying he figured it had worked by their expressions. "So you know what I'm saying now, na no da?" Both nodded. "Okay, now I have to get us to know what you are saying, no da."
"That wasn't too hard, was it Chichiri?" Teri asked.
"Nah, no problem, no da."
"I am only missing one thing." Legolas said, "What ever Chichiri says at the end of his sentences, I do not understand. What is 'no da'?"
Chichiri looked quizzically at Legolas, but Teri, Missy and Keeren burst into laughter. "Don't worry, Legolas." Keeren said. "No da is just Chichiri's own little speech quirk. It really has no translation." Legolas nodded slowly.
Chichiri shook his head. "I'm not asking, no da." He said. "Alright, I need the others to come up here. Could you five talk for me, please?" The other three seishi and the two Trunks' gathered around the monk as Teri, Missy, Renee, Keeren and Ace all started their own random conversation about the Wizard of Oz. The same thing happened as before. The words from the five speakers mouths appeared as streams of red light, each waving to the particular rhythm of the speaker’s voice. The streams condensed, traveled, and split into six sections, each for one of the Seishi or one of the Sayia-jin. As before, once each stream had entered the ears of one of them, Chichiri began to rotate his Shajuko, this time to his right. He had to go further this time, before everyone's eyes lit up in understanding. Chichiri dropped the spell with a grin.
"Go Chichiri!" Renee shouted. "Now we don't need any translators! Sorry, Keeren, you're fired."
"Who's up for a movie?" Teri asked.
"What's a 'movie'?"
o o o
The little boy stared up in shock. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. "Momma." He whispered, tugging on his mothers' hand. "Momma, it's Trunks."
"Yes, dear, now come along, it's time to go home." The mother replied.
"But momma..."
Gt Trunks had overheard this conversation and looked back over his shoulder at the child behind him. He smiled and winked, laying one finger over his lips in the universal 'hush' gesture. The boy gaped, then grinned and nodded. Trunks returned the grin and looked ahead again.
"What are you so happy about?" Missy asked him. The movie was over, and they were all attempting to get out of the theater. Trunks just shook his head. Missy shrugged. The movie excursion had been a complete success, once Keeren and Teri had managed to explain the concept of a moving picture to the seishi and Elf. The movie itself had captured all of their attention for the past two and a half hours, and now they were all hungry. Teri had flat-out refused to let any of the seishi or the elf get a popcorn larger than a medium, claiming that they were not used to the preservatives and artificial junk and might get sick. Again, Keeren questioned why they had insisted the bossy older woman come along, and this time Missy just shrugged.
"Who wants barbeque?" Ace asked as they made their way into the parking lot. Chiriko was walking ahead of him, humming 'If I only had a Brain'. "I can cook a mean steak."
"If you want to cook, have fun." Keeren replied. "But first we have to get back to the campsite."
"Really?" Missy asked. "I thought we'd bust out the grill and cook it here in the parking lot."
Midnight found Renee sitting on the beach, watching the reflections of the stars on the lake. Down the beach some distance, Teri was showing Legolas the constelations of Terra. Behind renee, in the cabin, Keeren, Ace and Missy were teaching the others the words to several of the Wizard of Oz songs, and the cabin was awash with music and the light from the fireplace.
Renee sighed contentedly. After the initial awkwardness they all had, everyone had gotten along wonderfully, except the two Trunks', who were uncomfortable to the point of being competitive with each other. Each seemed to be trying to prove himself 'the best Trunks'. Renee sighed. A fight between the two of them would probably be one hell of a battle. She really hoped that it didn't happen while they were here.
"Are you okay, Renee-chan?" Renee looked up. Nuriko stood behind her, his braid casually draped over his shoulder. It wasn't as long as Renee remembered from the show, then she remembered that he had cut it at one point.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Renee replied. "I just came out for some fresh air."
Nuriko wrinkled his nose as he sat beside her. "I don't know how you can call this fresh." He said.
Renee laughed. "For this world, this is pure and clean. Wait until you're in a real city. You'll wonder how in the hell we manage to live with the smell." She shrugged. "It's kinda weird to go to your world, because there we never smell exhaust and stuff."
"You're whole world smells like metal and smoke." Nuriko said, gazing out over the lake. "But you know what? I think, with all the wondrous things I've seen so far, I could live here."
"I understand what you mean, Master Nuriko." They looked up to see Legolas and Teri standing beside them. "This world has a scent that reminds me of Moria, of all places, but with what I have seen, and what I have learned from the short amount of time I have been here, I am eager to learn more. I would not mind staying an extended time."
"Renee, we've corrupted them." Teri said. "Next thing you know, they'll be listening to Britney Spears and Metallica, and watching the Simpson’s." Renee laughed. "But," Teri continued "Perhaps we can arrange for you to stay here for a time. We'd have to find a place to stay that's near a portal, so we could travel whenever necessary."
"I know Tasuki-kun, Chiriko-kun and Chichiri-san feel the same." Nuriko said. "Being an advisor in the palace is nice, but it get's boring when we can never do things for ourselves. Tasuki-kun's been threatening to go back and be a bandit again, and that he'd take the entire guard back with him if necessary. Hotohori-sama threatened to throw him in the dungeon and Tasuki-kun reminded him that he was the head of the guard and that the guards were all former members of his band, so none of them would try and catch him. After that it just became a big name-calling contest, but I know how Tasuki felt."
"He was calling the Emperor of your world names?" Legolas asked.
"Hotohori-sama is a seishi as well." Nuriko said. "We treat him as a brother, like the rest of us, only as a brother with a lot of power at his disposal. But he asks us to remember that he is human, and a seishi like the rest of us."
"Aragorn is much the same." Legolas said. "He is the true King of Gondor, but when the remnants of the Fellowship are together, he is Strider again. I think part of it is that I still remember him as a child in Rivendell, and he knows that."
Renee laughed again. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but it's well after midnight, so I'm going to bed."
"Good night, Lady Renee, Master Nuriko." Legolas said.
"Night, you guys." Teri added, and the two headed towards the house.
Nuriko looked at Renee. "As far as i know," he said. "No one told him I was male."
Renee shrugged. "Who knows. He's an elf. Come on, let's get some rest."